Well, it's been over a week and I am only now tending to my blog! Where do I start! Well, I will start with the chickens! They have not laid an egg since I left. Did they miss me? I don't know, maybe they did! I would like to think they did, but really, I think they are molting. I did not know what this was until I Googled a few websites. Apparently, chickens regularly shed their old feathers and grow new ones. The hen house is full of feathers, no doubt. One of the white chickens looks like it was in a fight and had it's butt feathers picked at but I read that this is molting. They stop laying during this period for 2 to 4 months! I have actually had to BUY a dozen of eggs, if you can believe that! I haven't seen any signs of molting in the other chickens, but maybe it is just less noticeable because they are all darker.
I wasn't too sure if the lack of eggs was actually molting though, because the seasons are changing now, days are shorter, well, daylight is less (days are still the same length), it is getting colder, and I rearranged the hen house. The fact that there are now two roosters bothering the chickens made me think the hens were a little stressed too. Anyway, I laid a dummy egg in a nest there, trying to encourage them to lay. AND NO, I did not actually "lay" the egg, I "placed" it in the nest! I can do a lot of things, but lay an egg? I cannot. At least not in that sense of the word. As I was saying, the dummy egg was to encourage them to lay but to no avail. I guess I will just have to wait until the molting process is over.
In the meantime, they tell me I just have to keep the hen house clean, make sure their water is fresh and clean, and keep them well fed. I think I can handle that.
More to come.........plus photos!
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